Thursday, May 2, 2013

Priest who saved souls on Titanic

Father Thomas Byles

(Leamington Courier) Sir Frank Whittle was just one of the interesting characters who went to school at Binswood Hall, currently being transformed into an Audley retirement village.

Former pupils of Leamington College included a priest, Father Thomas Rousell Davids Byles (1870-1912).
Father Thomas read maths, modern history and theology at Oxford University and then trained as a Catholic priest. When his younger brother who was living in America asked him to officiate at his wedding ceremony he jumped at the chance and made arrangements to travel to New York.

He was scheduled to travel on another White Star liner, but switched at the last minute to the Titanic. He is widely reported as having held a mass prayer for passengers aboard the ship as it went down, offering solace to passengers, hearing confessions and giving absolution...

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1 comment:

  1. The Protestants that worked building the Titanic would issue a curse against Holy Mother Church with each rivet that went into the ship that was built to defy God.

    One million rivets went into the ship.

    As it was sinking, many atheists, Jews, and agnostics converted.

    This Padre is one of my heroes.

    "Without the priest, the passion and death of our Lord would be of no avail. It is the priest who continues the work of redemption here on earth...What use would be a house filled with gold, were there no one to open its door? The priest holds the key to the treasures of heaven: it is he who opens the door: he is the steward of the good Lord; the administrator of His goods...Leave a parish for twenty years without a priest and they will end by worshiping the beasts there. The priest is not a priest for himself; he is a priest for you."
    Saint John Marie Vianney

    "We are all going to death, so why not go boldly, and why not go with Christ, why not go without fear, and why not go as our Master went?" Reverend Father Joseph Pfeiffer.


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